Private donations helping to spruce up National Mall

Sunday

May 5, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 5, 2013 at 4:14 PM

WASHINGTON - The nation's front lawn needs some improvements. The National Mall, the monument-filled, museum-lined, 2-mile centerpiece of the capital that was envisioned as a Paris-like boulevard, is showing wear and tear.

WASHINGTON — The nation’s front lawn needs some improvements.

The National Mall, the monument-filled, museum-lined, 2-mile centerpiece of the capital that was envisioned as a Paris-like boulevard, is showing wear and tear.

Twenty-five million visitors a year take a toll on everything from grass to upkeep to bathroom facilities.

So, with the National Park Service managing things on a tighter budget, the private sector is stepping in.

On Thursday, the Volkswagen Group of America announced a gift of$10 million over five years at a gala lunch on the mall launching the Trust for the National Mall’s campaign to raise $350 million. It will be matched with federal funds to finance a $700 million plan to give the celebrated landmark a face-lift.

“This is a massive project in terms of renovating and improving the National Mall,” Jonathan Browning, VW America’s president and CEO, said in an interview.

For the automaker, making the largest single contribution to the nonprofit trust for the redesign and restoration of the mall’s Constitution Gardens and the grounds at the Washington Monument Sylvan Theater will provide much goodwill.

“This is not just about improving the environment and the infrastructure along the mall, it is about protecting and defending a living symbol of American democracy,” Browning told hundreds of people at the trust luncheon, held under tents on the mall.

The Lincoln Memorial anchors one end of the mall, the U.S. Capitol the other. The Washington Monument, the National World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and 10 museums of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art all occupy parts of the nearly 150 acres of grassy, tree-lined parkland.

The mall is the site of the city’s annual Independence Day celebration, a fireworks extravaganza that will go on this summer, despite the federal cutbacks that have made the Park Service and Smithsonian museums scale back hiring and maintenance.

But the mall suffers from overuse.

“The mall in general has been trampled to death by millions of visitors,” said Chip Akridge, chairman of the trust and a Washington real-estate developer.

Supporters are contributing money to a number of improvements, including turf restoration.

The National Park Service, a part of the Interior Department, is managing its properties with a governmentwide 5 percent budget cut. For the mall, that means a reduction of $1.68 million in its budget through Oct. 1.